


Cooking Lesson Confession

by nagi_schwarz



Series: Prompt Fills 2019 [6]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: M/M, Stealth Crossover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-21
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2020-09-23 11:34:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20339440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: Written for the food comment_fic prompt: "Stargate Atlantis, Evan Lorne +/ Any, cooking lessons."In which Rodney wants just dinner and ends up in the middle of a cooking lesson and maybe also a K-drama.





	Cooking Lesson Confession

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Brumeier](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brumeier/gifts).

Everyone else on AR-1 had places to be and things to do, but Rodney had had a team long enough that he didn’t want to eat alone. It reminded him of the horrors of the school lunchroom too much.

So he went hunting for Evan. They’d been sleeping together on and off since Evan first arrived in Atlantis, but Rodney wasn’t quite sure what they were doing could be called dating. Evan never treated Rodney like a cheap fling, but he was John’s 2IC as well as the base logistics officer, and he was always busy. It was a miracle Evan had time to eat and sleep, let alone be with Rodney, so Rodney supposed he ought to be grateful for what time he could get with Evan, but - 

He wanted to spend more time with Evan.

Rodney had to radio around to a half dozen different departments before he finally got a line on a possible location for Evan - the kitchens. That made sense, as Evan oversaw the KP Marines.

Rodney came upon the kitchen door, which was slightly ajar, and paused, listening.

And heard raucous laughter.

The South Korean delegation.

Ever since the IOA learned that South Korea had a huge population of strong natural gene carriers, Atlantis had had an influx of them, and they were constantly rotating, since most of them were young men doing their two years of mandatory service before getting on with their lives. They were mostly glorified light switches. Apart from Nurse Cho, Rodney hadn’t known many Korean people. He’d assumed they’d be diffident and polite, like Miko (until someone stole her red bean candies, at any rate). Sure, they bowed a lot, but they were loud and energetic and ridiculously physically affectionate for a bunch of men whose main purpose was to shoot Wraith and turn on random Ancient devices.

The American Marines were especially weirded out by how close they’d sit together, how they were always touching each other and hugging each other and hanging all over each other.

Rodney was weirded out by it, too, because they seemed to extend that affection to people outside their circle, and Rodney didn’t like being touched.

Also he got the sense that they talked about him a lot, the way they’d fall quiet when he walked by sometimes, the way they’d all look at him. Sure, he’d yelled at them in the lab before, but - 

Rodney listened. He didn’t hear Evan’s voice. He wasn’t in the kitchen after all. He went to turn away, then paused. Even if Evan wasn’t there, the SK Marines might know where he was.

Rodney took a deep breath. He could just poke his head in, ask if any of them had seen Evan, and go on his way.

There was another burst of laughter, and Rodney cringed. It would be like walking into a frat party, wouldn’t it? A very handsy, hug-y frat party.

He poked his head into the kitchen anyway.

Evan stood at one of the counters, wearing an apron and stirring something in a bowl with a whisk while half a dozen SK Marines clustered around him. One was taking notes.

Evan was speaking fluent Korean. Since when could he do that?

Maybe that wasn’t so weird. There was a USAF base in South Korea, right?

Only if Rodney closed his eyes, he wouldn’t be able to pick Evan’s voice out from the others.

Rodney, confused, burst out with, “What are you doing?”

Evan turned to him, startled. “Oh, hey, Rodney. Just - cooking lessons.”

“Cooking lessons,” Rodney echoed.

Evan nodded. “Yeah.”

“Oh. What are you making?”

“Chipotle chicken,” Evan said. “Spicy food is really popular in Korea. Some of the guys like cooking and wanted to take some new recipes home, so -”

“That’s nice of you,” Rodney said, and then, “you speak really, really good Korean.” He winced. He always hated it when people stated the obvious.

A strange look crossed Evan’s face, and he ducked his head the way Rodney had seen the SK Marines do sometimes, when they felt awkward or apologetic. “Ah - yeah. Thanks.”

“I was going to see if you wanted to have dinner with me, but -”

“The chicken will be done pretty quickly, if you want to eat with us,” Evan said.

Rodney had seen how the SK Marines ate, piling all their food into the middle of the table and then picking out of the central dishes with their chopsticks, serving each other and fighting each other and sometimes even feeding each other. Not that he’d never imagined Evan feeding him a chocolate-covered strawberry or something, but - not with a crowd of young Marines watching, whatever country they were from.

Rodney fumbled for a polite excuse, but then one of the Marines - the one who had a laugh like a deranged dolphin and who had startled Rodney in the middle of a delicate experiment more than once - piped up.

“Please, have dinner with us!”

He beamed.

Rodney had the sense that saying no would result in that bright smile melting into an expression like that of a kicked puppy.

“Ah - sure.”

Evan beckoned him closer. “It’s citrus free, so don’t worry. Grab an apron and help me out?”

Rodney nodded, started forward, had to ask where the aprons were kept. And then he was standing beside Evan in front of seven earnest, expectant young men, who were watching him with solemn eyes.

“Go ahead and introduce yourselves,” Evan said. “I’ll finish mixing this.”

One of them barked, “Sound off!” like any energetic Marine.

Rodney was relieved they all had English names - Shaun, Cameron, Edward, William, Alexander, Matthew, Daniel - but he also realized he’d have no way of remembering who was who without name tags, and two of them had the same last name.

“So,” Evan said, “once the pepper paste is all mixed smoothly, pop it all back onto the stove for a quick simmer so all the flavors settle in. While the chicken is going, let’s fix up some toppings. Who wants to grate cheese?”

Rodney couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen anyone so enthusiastic about helping with anything, but soon the young Marines were distracted with chopping, dicing, slicing, grating, heating up tortillas on the stove, and gathering bowls and utensils, and Rodney was left with Evan, supervising the chicken.

“I kind of wanted to eat alone with you,” Rodney admitted in a low voice. “I know we’re not exactly dating, but -”

Evan looked at him, surprised. “Really? I - I didn’t think you liked me that much.”

“What, you thought I was just sleeping with you?”

Evan looked away. 

That stung. “I know I’m kind of abrasive sometimes, but - outside of my team and Radek the person I spend the most time with is you.”

Evan glanced at him but said nothing. 

“Oh. You - you don’t like me that much.”

Evan said, in a low voice, “I can’t really talk about this in front of my men -”

Rodney fumbled to untie the apron. “I’ll just go.”

Evan caught his wrist. “No, don’t.”

The Marine with the annoying laugh, Edward, put a hand on Evan’s shoulder. “Hyung -”

He saw Evan’s hand on Rodney’s and snatched his hand back. His eyes lit up, and he beamed at Evan. 

_ “Kobaek?” _

Evan shook his head, eyes wide, and Rodney pulled his hand free, but then Edward was shouting to his friends in loud Korean - and immediately the others grabbed him and hauled him to a far corner of the kitchen. Daniel shoved the KP Marines out the side door with a holler of  _ Come back in ten minutes! _

Then he and the other six took up posts at both doors, facing deliberately away from Evan and Rodney. 

“Are they not going to let me leave?” Rodney asked, indignant and embarrassed. 

Evan sighed. “Not till I, ah, confess.”

“Confess what?” That he didn’t like Rodney at all?

“That I - argh!” Evan turned away, blushing. “Damn you, Daniel. This isn’t a drama!”

“Not till you say it, Hyung.”

Edward shouted,  _ “Kobaek!” _

The others took up the chant.

“What the hell is going on?” Rodney demanded.

“Hyung, you better do it fast, before our ten minutes runs out,” Daniel said. He sounded unfairly amused.

Rodney grabbed Evan’s wrist. “Make this madness stop.”

Evan burst out with,  _ “Noreul joahae!” _

Edward burst into applause. 

Someone else said, “In English,  _ pabbo!” _

Evan, bright red, said, “I like you. A lot.”

Another one of those damned Marines burst into cheers.

Evan crowded closer to Rodney. “I like you a lot and - have dinner with me. Whenever you can. Dinner and breakfast and lunch and cooking lessons and I’ll give you anything you want.”

Rodney couldn’t believe it. No one had ever told him that before.

Evan’s blue eyes went wide. “Please?”

There was only one answer. “Yes.”

Evan leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. It was sweet and chaste compared to a lot of kisses they’d shared, but Rodney’s heart raced. 

Daniel said,  _ “Finally.  _ Now come on, I want some spicy chicken.”

Like that, the moment was broken. Young Marines swarmed them, jostling each other to sneak pieces of chicken from right off the stove. 

But then the KP Marines returned and the food was ready and Evan herded everyone from his little cooking class out to the mess hall, and no one looked twice when Evan fed Rodney a piece of chicken. 

(Although Rodney might have snapped at Edward and Cameron when they also tried to feed Evan.)

“So, when is our next cooking class?” William asked. He’d been the one taking notes. 

Rodney said, firmly, “After our first official date.”


End file.
